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Under the Vines: Series 1
R0 - United Kingdom - Acorn Media Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (8th June 2025). |
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The Show
 Sidney socialite Daisy Munroe (13 Gantry Row's Rebecca Gibney) ducks out on yet another plastic surgery appointment and tries to lose herself in the party scene only to get a rude awakening when her credit card is declined in a three-thousand dollar donation to one of her friends' charitable causes and she learns that her "sugar daddy" Stanley Oakley – who was married to her late mother forty years ago – has passed away, and with him her line of credit. Fortunately, she believes, he has made her the sole heir to his New Zealand vineyard in Peak View. Upon arrival, however, she leanrs from Ray's solicitor Vic (Power of the Dog's Cohen Holloway) that she is actually the "soul heir" to Stanley's legacy (including a three-legged cat called Pussy Galore) along with his nephew Louis Oakley (Philomena's Charles Edwards) who has just gone viral for a drunken, naked rant on the streets of London following the breakup of his marriage and his disbarment after his partner embezzled client funds and fled to Barbados. Both are of the same mind about selling the vineyard only to discover it in shabby condition, run solely by Maori vintner Tippy (Shortland Street's Trae Te Wiki) and general handyman Gus (Black Christmas' Simon Mead). Their intention to sell is further cemented when they try Stanley's "bloody terrible" vintage and made more tantalizing when neighboring vintners Don (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' John Bach) and Marissa (Heavenly Creatures' Sarah Peirse), who have been buying Stanley's grapes for the last few years, make a million dollar offer for the vineyard. Surrounded by memories of her childhood and her guilt over not visiting Stanley after he shipped her off to boarding school and realizing that she really has nothing to go back to in Sydney, Daisy decides that they should make a go at fixing up the vineyard and marketing Tippy's own concoction "The Stanley" which has just won a local award after being secretly submitted by Gus. Louis, on the other hand, believes that the barrels of "The Stanley" as undisclosed assets makes his agreement with Don and Marissa null and void so he can push for a higher offer. Louis still believes he can still fix his marriage to Simone (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' Sara Wiseman) and strained relationship with his son Julian (Sam Gardner) despite Simone pushing him to "take a break" and stay in New Zealand for a while. Meeting other small local vintners including Vic and his wife Nic (Carrie Green) as well as New Age nudist Hilary (Brilliant Lies' Catherine Wilkin) and learn of Marissa's domineering personality and the possible threat "The Stanley" poses to Don and Marissa's new line should they try to make Oakley Vineyard a going concern. Pooling together their assets from Louis selling his car and putting up with Stanley's "bloody French" Citroën and Daisy selling vestiges of her old life – along with some "walking around money" from hunky closeted action film star gay best friend Griff (Trumbo's Dean O'Gorman) – and some suspect deals by twelve-year-old local entrepreneur Rowan (Savage's Lotima Pome'e), they hope to get the vineyard through the next harvest which will at least make it a more attractive prospect to buyers or investors. This, of course, means going up against Marissa in a local showcase that she always turns into a gala event for the country's wine community where her hospitality always overshadows the efforts of her fellow vintners. Their efforts are waylaid by various interpersonal struggles including the drunken self-pity party in the aftermath of Simone's visit, Julian running away from home and taking an international flight back to the vineyard, Griff's visit in which Daisy is concerned that he may be leading naive Gus on, and Daisy's own involvement with handsome Ben (The Tank's Matt Whelan) – who happens to be Marissa's son (thirty-six years old but still a boy to her) – but they soldier on until everything comes to a head just before the showcase.  Executive produced by star Gibney, Under the Vines is a "fish out of water" comedy set in a quirky southern New Zealand along the lines of The Brokenwood Mysteries without any murders. The writing does not aim for anything more complex than any other Acorn pick-up but the execution is good with a degree of nuance to the characters and character growth organic to the obvious end game of Daisy and Louis as a romantic couple. Gibney's Daisy is a middle-aged Sidney party girl who has outgrown being a cougar to young men who see dollar signs or a "mummy" substitute to virtually adopting Tippy and Gus. A conversation between Daisy and Griff suggests that however "flaky" she may be, she is well-intentioned in even her shallower relationships so she is already emotionally-equipped to encourage Tippy and provide a shoulder for Gus when Griff flakes out, and it takes that same compassion for her to let Griff back into her life when he is under threat of being outed. While some of the supporting characters like Rowan, Vic, Nic, Hilary and her spell-casting granddaughter Paige (Gina Laverty) are just oddballs, Tippy and Gus are more than just fonts of local wisdom with Tippy preferring to be an outsider rather than be rejected and ultimately finding a balance between letting her work stand on it own and being personable enough to those who are judging it. Initially presented as a dim himbo, Gus has a view of being gay is not oversimplified so much as uncomplicated, and he makes clear his position to Griff without pushing him to come out, drawing the line that he will not cross for a fling or even a secret relationship. Given how snobby Louis comes across, it will be interesting to see if Julian just visits on holidays or gets shipped off to a New Zealand or Australian boarding school and how long Simone is kept around as a complication. It will be interesting to see how Don and Marissa develop in subsequent seasons since Daisy prevented her from further damaging her reputation in the final episode of the first series (seemingly as much for the showcase to run smoothly as her professed admiration for what Marissa has been able to achieve as a businesswoman). Although the first series has just recently shown on television in the U.K., Under the Vines is already in its third series (stateside, all three series are streaming from the U.S. arm of Acorn and the second series is available on DVD). 
Video
The six episodes of the first series are presented by Acorn on one dual-layer DVD and one single-layer disc. The 16:9 anamorphic 2.00:1 widescreen video is in keeping with the streaming/broadcast optimized HD lensing which sports fair to good detail in close-ups and medium shots while the wide shots have a "dreamy" softness that is better viewed on medium-sized television screens. 
Audio
The sole audio option is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo mix. Dialogue dominates and is always crisply recorded and mixed while the sound design is generally more ambient with directional effect utilized for onscreen action. Music does most of the mood-setting heavy-lifting much of the time. Optional English HoH subtitles are provided which may or may not mangle some local lingo and accents. 
Extras
Extras are on the second disc starting with "Creating the World of Under the Vines" (3:04) in which production designer Ken Turner (The Meg) discusses scouting the location which was a vineyard that was somewhat less-than-pristine because they were in the process of converting it to more organic grape farming and they dressed it to look more unkempt and gradually cleared out the added clutter with each episode. In "Introducing Under the Vines" featurette (16:42), creator Erin White, Gibney, and Edwards provide talking heads interviews in which Gibney reveals that she was inspired by the American series Northern Exposure. The trio separately provide remarks about the setting in Southern New Zealand, the vineyard, the cast, and their characters. The disc also has a picture gallery (1:17). 
Overall
A "fish out of water" story inspired by the quirky American series Northern Exposure, Under the Vines does not aim high but its execution is warm and pleasant.
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